Lonely Flame
by J.A.Kishu
Summary: Cursed before even born, Dean Winchester had it never easy. Living far away from people, alone, Dean meet someone he hadn't thought even exist and he only want to be alone again, afraid to hurt the good looking stranger that residents on his couch. Part 1 of Fallen Angel and Cursed Human
1. The man, that fell from the sky

**Lonely Flame**

(Part 1 of Fallen Angel and Cursed Human)

**Chapter 1: The man, that fell from the sky**

Castiel was watching his brothers and sister, as they were talking or better joking about what to do next. It appears to him sometimes as if their jobs, given by their father, had lost all meaning. He wasn't sure when exactly it started but he hated it. Hated it to watch them, laugh about the fate of a human, hate it when they show no remorse when they did something wrong or don't even care about anything. Castiel had to sit here with them and he hated it. The worst part was that he wasn't supposed to hate it. It was a feeling he shouldn't be able to feel for his siblings but he does and it bothered him.

God hadn't spoken to them, for centuries it was only the archangels (mostly Michael) that got the spoken word of God but Michael hadn't reported any message or new missions. It was waiting and watching his family enjoy the sorrow of mankind. It hit Castiel one day as he was in his favourite heaven that he couldn't take it anymore.

He was like all angels band from going down to earth, since centuries had no angel meet the soil the holds the world of humans. In him grew a thought, a thought he didn't think he was able to think, disobeying. He wanted to go out there see his father's creation in all its beautiful rightness. He wants to be there like he had once done before, millennia's ago. He wants to go down to earth and feel it again.

To do this he had to disobey. He had to leave heaven, leave behind his family, his home and everything that was once his. He wouldn't be able to return. For angels that go against their fathers will was only one punishment the answer. Thinking of it there were two. Falling or imprisoning. Both not something he would chose, but falling would give him freedom even a painful one.

While his brothers and sisters where busy with doing (or not doing) their job watching over mankind, Castiel followed a small path to a smaller gate out of heaven. As a young angel had one of his brothers shown him this path. Not many knew about it and it was Castiel´s only hope to get out before they notice that one of their angels is missing.

Castiel worked on the lock and remembers Gabriel´s voice as he had shown his younger brother a little trick to get the old door to open. With a bit of his power Castiel hit the door with a fist, right under the lock. Something moved inside the lock and the door was open. The thought of Gabriel had clouded his mind with sadness. His older brother that had died as he had wished to visit earth because he liked humanity, too much thought some of his brothers. In the end Gabriel was gone, dead they said, for something as small as humans. Maybe it was that moment that Castiel had learned hatred. But it was a long time ago and he couldn't be sure.

With one last look around Castiel opens his wings, pulls the door close behind him and let himself fall, fall through the clouds and down the sky.

He could feel the electric from the storm around him, his wings fight against the wind and Castiel tries to get pass the flashes. The thunder around him growls angry. As if his father would shout at his disobeying child.

There was nothing that could stop his fall and the surprising feeling of pain was the first and last feeling Castiel felt at his arrival on earth. Before everything went dark.

* * *

Dean Winchester watched the striking flashes that illuminated the storm-darkened night, behind the black lake and over the mountain. He likes to watch the rain falling down but it wouldn't change much outside. The storm had been a surprise and the snow would thin out a bit but with the next night and snowfall would return it to his original thickness from his afternoon.

The higher temperature had been a surprise for Dean and he hoped the winter would return to its white beauty. Winter means silence and peace. When even Mother Nature would sleep and no one and nothing would bother him here. On occasion a hiker or hunter (not the supernatural kind) get lost and find his cabin, they don't bother him for long. Dean shows them the right way, sometimes offer some water when the poor men had been lost for some time, but he always sends them away. He doesn't want them around or anywhere near him.

His cabin was far away from any road you would chose voluntary to pass through the mountains, only a small path leads the way up here. His car parks at the beginning of the path in a garage and was waiting there for when Dean needed to go somewhere. But Dean doesn't need to go anyplace. He was happy here, it was safe and no one would get hurt when he stays here. The huge lake, his cabin was build next to offered enough water for anything that he could need, he had a whole storage facility and he had enough jobs to keep himself busy. For once they kept him insane and also prevented him from unnecessary visits in the civilization.

The forest around him hid him away and offered a nice ambient, not fare up and the trees got thinner and disappear before the rocky and snowy peaks of the mountains appear. Dean walks often up there to get a clear head. Not so often in the winter, with all the snow but in the summer he spends hours up there, watching a world he isn't part of.

A sudden crushing noise pulls Dean out of his relaxed state of watching the storm. It sounded as if one of the flashes had hit something and this something is his storage building. Cursing and at the same time hoping that it isn't too bad, Dean takes his coat and put on his shoes before he opens the door. He has to check it out now. If he can fix it he has to do it imminently and if it stars burning he had to stop the fire before it spread.

In the light of his flashlight he finds the roof of the building missing a huge part of it. A hole had been ripped through the material and Dean sight; at least he can fix it. Dean opens the door, the material he needs to fix the roof, as his tools are all inside.

Dean opens the door and finds the floor covered with shattered wood, snow and an unconscious man in a nest out of white snow and black feathers. He stops and stares at the person in front of him. Dean hadn't thought about any human interfering in his life, while a storm was showing earth that it could bring distraction. Worst was that he had no idea where the man came from. By the look of it he had fallen from the sky, hit a few birds on the way and chose his storage building as a safe place to land.

The body suddenly moved and so was Dean. He knees down next to the man and checks him up for any injuries that need more than his abilities and supplies offer. The man stayed unconscious while Dean searched for broken bones, the man's pupils react to the light in a normal way, no concussion. A decision is made; Dean lifts him over his shoulder and carries the man inside.

Inside his cabin, Dean shed the man from his cold and wet clothes, places him on the sofa after wrapping up a few minor cuts and covering him with a few warm blankets. After the man was cared for, he hangs up his visitors clothes in the bathroom to let them dry.

Dean closes the door behind him to let the warm inside, he had turned up the heating so the man wouldn't freeze and begins to fix the roof. He needed it to be done, he had to protect his supplies or a visit in the next town would be necessary before the winter was done. As he puts a plastic sheet over to hole and nails the wooden boards over it. The storm loses its power around him and moves along. Dean's thoughts return to the man on his sofa, to the blue eyes that had caught him by surprise, he wonders how they will look in the light of the sun. But at the moment they have the same color as the sky on a beautiful anthem afternoon day.


	2. I m an angel, I don't require

**Chapter 2: "I´m an angel, I don't require food"**

Castiel wakes up to the sound of a beating heart not far from him. The strange part was not the stranger, it was the waking up. Castiel is an angel, angels don't require sleep, or for that matter anything a living creature would need like air and food. So why had he been sleeping?

He recognizes the feeling because he had once slept, after a near fatal injury, the healer told him to rest so his body could recover. But except for this one occasion this was the first time and he was really sure he hadn't been part of some war and got stabbed.

Slowly it came back, the gate and the fall, his decision to leave and visit earth. He had rebelled; he is fallen and has now to face the consequences. Including dealing with the person that was next to him.

The other person in the room, seem nervous, the heartbeat was faster than it should be and the sound that arrives at Castiel´s ears tell him that the person was pacing through the room. Deciding that he wouldn't get new information without opening his eyes and acknowledging the person that was with him, the angel opens them and stares right into green seas.

Green eyes where fixed on him, he had moved and sit up while opening his eyes and the person (a young human male) was looking at him. This man was just there starring at him, not talking or asking anything. Castiel had thought that's what humans do, asking question. It gave him the time to look around and he find himself in wooden building, in a nice and cosy living room as it appears. It didn't have many decorative things but it looks well lived in, with only the necessaries. He likes it.

The human, Castiel notice, was quite nervous, he couldn't be sure for the reason but it seems as if his caretaker had decided to finally start asking questions. Castiel was ready for questions like, who are you, why do you have wings, are you an angel? The typical questions human ask an angel if meeting one. The question that came surprised him.

"How are you feeling?" It surprised the angel so much that he stayed silence for a whole minute. Feeling his body he could feel a few minor scratches and bruises, noting bad, his fall from heaven could have smashed him on the ground if he had landed wrong. A fallen angel had no control about how or where he falls, Castiel had been ready and it worked out it seems. He was alive and under the care of a human what means that he was on earth.

* * *

The man on the sofa had startled Dean. From a deep, dead looking like sleep to a sudden movement and sitting up. Like some cyborg that got started by pushing a bottom. The blue eyes that were looking at him and then searching the room were as blue as he had imagined the night before and they wake something up inside of Dean he hadn't thought was still there. He had really been worried about the man´s condition. Sometimes it appears that there was no breathing or pules to feel and Dean had horror pictures of the police in his house, collecting a body. He would never survive a visit like that.

Now he has another problem. The man doesn't look bothered about the fact that he was in a stranger's house or that he was injured, he was just starring and it was making Dean nervous, more nervous than he already is. He needs the man to leave but even Dean isn't that heartless to send an injured person out in the cold just because the host is a potential danger.

Finding no other way around as to start a conversation Dean makes eye contact. "How are you feeling?" Best he could came up, what else do you ask someone who is hurt but it seem to confuse his guest. Maybe he doesn't speak English or he has a head injurie Dean hadn't notice. He should have brought him to the hospital.

While Dean was worrying himself into a panic attack his guest finally found an answer and stopped Dean´s brain on his way to panic land. "I feel alright. I guess I have to thank you for your care." Dean nods. "Thank you for taking care of me." Okay, English is not a problem, also no brain damage.

"I´m Dean, I … Do you want me to check your wounds. They should be fine for another few hours before we have to change the wrappings … but if you want I could do it now." Dean was rambling, the starring wasn't helping his nervous state, he hates it when it happens, it always happens with new people in new situations combined with everything else.

"Thank you, but I think it will do for now. My name is Castiel. I´m an angel of the Lord." Dean´s mind stuck for two seconds until it starts working again. Great he got an insane person, or more likely someone with a head injurie that should be in hospital and not on a sofa in the middle of the woods. His fault, he can't blame the guy for being crazy or being hurt. He was still starring.

Feeling responsible for the guys wellbeing, Dean ignores the crazy part and just nods. "Get some more rest I will get you when dinner is ready." Before Castiel could answer Dean left the room, taking a deep breath to calm himself down.

Very aware of his guest Dean gets all ingredient he need for the food. Angel. He nearly laughs. If some guy would come up with something like that in a bar he would guess it´s his way of flirting but Dean isn't sure how far the guy would get with this. With either man or woman. He misses the bars, not that Dean had many chances to be in one. After a successful hunt with Sam, or after a not so successful hunt or when IT happened again. Dean was never able to relax completely, too afraid of the things that could happen when he loses control, or when he is too drunk to notice what he is doing. Still a visit in a pub even with the crazy guy would be nice, nice and never going to happen.

Dean´s thoughts return to Castiel. What a name came it to his mind as he gets a frying pan to make some burgers. Cooking was a relaxing activity and right now a much needed one. The other person in his house hadn't let him sleep or relax since he had been arrived. Back to the name, Dean had to roll his eyes. Some bible-loving parents. Maybe he was really crazy growing up in some cult, maybe his guest ran away from all of that.

"Hello Dean." The rough voice of his visitor appears suddenly behind him and Dean let nearly the plates in his hand fall. He had been too deep in his thoughts about cults, bars and bible fanatics that he hadn't heard Castiel coming up to him.

"Dude, I told you to rest and not sneaking around to frighten other people." Dean knows it was unfair, he wasn't used to people anymore.

"I´m sorry Dean, it wasn't my intention to frighten you." Dean turns around and find himself right in front of Castiel.

"Castiel, personal space!" It seems to confuse his visitor again, maybe his cult had not privacy or something like that. Dean steps back and then walks around the man to set the table. Not letting his visitors eyes distract him.

"My apologize." Dean rolls his eyes, what a strange guy. But he likes him. He is confused and unsure about everything as it seems after only a few minutes.

"Whatever man, sit down dinner is ready." The two plates with burgers and potatoes on the side looked really delicious. Dean had to praise himself for such a good work while worrying about his visitor. Who wasn't as bad as he thought. Dean couldn't remember the last time he had spoken to someone and if he can control himself he can enjoy it until he had to send him away. It would take a bit of time until Castiel´s wounds are healed.

Dean looks up and finds Castiel starring at him (again). "I´m an angel, I don't need food." Ok that's enough with the craziness, Dean thinks. Angels don't exist.

"Cas, shut up and sit down. Don't care if you are an angel or god himself. I made dinner, you will eat it. No wasting food in this house." Dean hadn't notice that he had given the ´angel´ a nickname but the man sits down and after studying the burger for a minute Cas starts to copy Dean by taking the burger in his hands and biting out a piece. The surprised look doesn't keep hidden from Dean.

"Good, right?" With his mouth full Cas nods. Dean likes the look in Castiel´s eyes as the ´angel´ enjoys his dinner.

"I hope you enjoy it, there is a second one waiting for us." Somehow this strange person in front of Dean makes him smile, maybe because he had been lonely for so long or the confused looks he gets. He only knows the guy for a day but since he woke up to the moment in the kitchen Cas (yes he will keep calling him that) had pulled out feelings and emotional glimpse he hadn't had in years. He was always to tight up to let anything hidden. It was as if these emotions were floating at the surface, ready for Cas to take out.

Somehow Dean thinks it´s the eyes that look full of wonder to everything that had let him relax between being startled while cooking and sitting down something had changed. It could be the eyes …

* * *

After their dinner Dean tent to Cas´ wounds. They heal fast, deep cuts were nothing more than a scratch after a day. His guest told him again that he is an angel and heals fast. Dean band him to the sofa to rest and sleep (don´t want to here the angel crap) hat said before he had send Cas in the living room with a stern look.

Dean wasn't sure what he should think about the angel thing. He was a hunter, … alright had been a hunter for years. Most of his life he and his family had hunted things that live in the night and kill people. The motivation for it was his curse, his father wanted to find out how did that to his family, who cursed his son. He never blamed Dean, only Dean blamed himself for everything that happened. They never found out who did it or what the curse is in the first place. At least they helped many people on the way but Dean became a danger for this people and everyone else so he had to leave, stop hunting and hide in the woods alone. To get back to the topic, he or his family or any other hunter they ever met had seen/hunt an angel. To Dean´s knowledge there are no angels. Just something people have invented thousands of years ago to explain the ugly world they live in.

The ex-hunter looks at the sofa and finds Cas sleeping (yes, right he doesn't need sleep) Dean rolls his eyes, takes his phone out of the drawer and steps outside. He doesn't want Cas to listen into that conversation. He really could be some cult victim. Cas had something in his eyes that let Dean forget about the world, the curse, his life and everything. This man who needed to press to eat and looking after himself, that ask curious question and had his first burger tonight woke something in Dean he had missed a long time. And that is was frighten Dean the most.

Dean takes a deep breath before he presses the call bottom. He hadn't have a conversation with the man in year. Actually he hadn't used this phone for over a year. It only took ten seconds for the person on the other end to answer not enough time for Dean to get ready.

"Yes." A grumpy voice answered and waited.

"Hey Bobby, it´s Dean." To prevent ear damage Dean holds the phone away from his ear because he knows what will follow.

"You idjit. What does it take for you to pick up the phone? Two years. TWO years." Bobby shouts in the phone and Dean secretly enjoys it. But he would never tell Bobby that. He loved the old man that tried to cure him for years. After his dad died on a hunt with a demon, he took Sam and him in. He would never forget it but he was too dangerous to stay with them.

"Sorry Bobby. Time is flying here when you watch the lake and the clouds. I call because I got a visitor." That got his attention. "He fell into my storage, through the roof and he said he is an angel." That sounds not stupit or insane at all. "I think he is some cult member. I mean he told me his name is Castiel. Who would call their child that. But we both know there are no angel." Dean needed to hear it, from Bobby, the he wasn't the insane one for thinking, hoping or believing a stranger on his sofa.

"He told you he is an angel and you let him stay?" Bobby questioned.

"He was hurt and … what else should I do. Leave him?" Better help Castiel and get rid of him then having a body to take care off. "His wounds are nearly healed after a day. He could be something else."

"So you want me to look into this angel thing, right." Bobby asks.

"Yes. I know he can't be an angel but just to make sure. You know." Dean is in serious doubt that Castiel was an angel but it was better to ask Bobby to make sure.

"Fine. Be careful and don't let your angel out of your side, he could be anything." After a short break. "And Dean? Be careful, will you. Or I have to come up there and kick your ass." Dean smiles.

"Yes Bobby, and thanks." Dean ended the call before they could exchange more chick-flicks and sighs. It really had been a long time since Dean had talked to anyone. The last time he had called someone was his brother over a year ago. He doesn't want to worry them but hearing them makes him lonely and hating himself more for what he is and what he had done.

* * *

In the living room Castiel had listen to the whole conversation. His saviour had people but something keeps him away from them. Also he has no faith at all. Castiel let his eyes closed as Dean returns inside. When he wanted him to sleep he could at least pretend and listen to the soft humming of Deans beautiful soul. If it would help Dean to believe him Cas would offer a demonstration of his power but he better not risk that his brother and sister find him.

Cas likes it here and wants to learn as much as possible form this human. Today he had learned what Cheeseburgers are. He likes them and how Dean makes them they don't taste like molecules.


	3. Steaming Lake

**Chapter 3: Steaming Lake**

_The first thing four year old Dean notice was the breaking sound of wood. He had heard it before, weeks ago as his father had taken him to one of his ´boys nights´ like his mom calls them. He wasn't old enough for it and certainly didn't get a drink but he was daddy´s helper as he maned the grill. They made steak, he and his colleagues from work. But the sound of the fire that was the noise he heard now, wood burning, breaking and crumbling down to a pail of ash. _

_Dean wakes up probably to his mother´s screams and his baby brothers crying. An orange and red light shined inside his room. The door was left open for him when he needs the toiled in the night but this was not the light from the hall, it was moving and Dean liked it until he remembers the scream and the crying, two signs that something was very wrong. _

_The boy gets out of his bed and enters the hall to find the nursery in flames. Bright and hot were the flames working on eating up every piece of the room. The flames were not like the ones at the grill or the any other fire he had seen before, the flames were wild and untamed. His mom was in this room and somehow caught behind a wall of flames. His brother was crying in his bed and as Dean watched this scene, his dad came upstairs, ran pass him to get his brother out._

_"Bring your brother out, as fast as you can." Shouts his dad as he gives Dean Baby Sammy into his arms. Suddenly feeling the fear, the pain and the creeping death, Dean runs, he was afraid and didn't know what was happening. The fire was growing around him fast as he gets outside with Sammy safe in his arms. The baby was still crying, out of fear. _

_The house was completely covered in flames as his dad came out, hurt but without his mother and ran towards him. Without mom, because she was still inside the house, being eaten by the fire. Fear was pressing his heart and Sammy´s crying became the cry´s of pain. _

_And Dean sees how his hands leave burning hand prints on his brother´s body._

* * *

Dean shoots up in his bed; he can feel the heat rising inside of his body. Before he is able to take some air into his empty lungs from his silent scream, he jumps out of the bed, runs to the back door and opens it. He can feel the metal under his finger getting warm, barefoot and only in his nightgown he runs through the snow and into the lake. Steam rises around his overheated body. The cold of the lake does not reach him. The water starts to boil around him imminently and Dean walks deeper into the water until he reaches a rock. He knows this rock is there, no light is needed. Dean sits down and let the water take every bit of the heat and flames his body produces.

It takes a while for him to calm down, to get his breathing under control and to concentrate on his heartbeat. He needs to be calm to even try to push the fire back inside of him, where he had locked it away as good as it was possible for a driving force to be hidden away. He couldn't see far, the steam was too thick but that was okay, no one would be able to see his tears. Something Dean was very thankful for. He always start to cry after that dream, the look of his mother, caught by the flames, his father hurt as he run out of their home but worse the pained cries of his baby brother as his back gets burned by him.

* * *

Cas had felt the dark thoughts and the nightmare but he hadn't known what to do. He wasn't used to all of this and he had heard that humans, especially men, don't like to be reminds of flaws, weaknesses or similar things. It surprised the angel as he felt something very strange, somehow familiar but still foreign to him. It was a power he couldn't place.

The sudden movement of his host was even more surprising. The angel followed the human outside and finds the night filled with fog. At least that's what Cas thought first. Than he sees Dean in the lake producing boiling water that evaporates to steam and fills the nightly air. One thing was sure, the angle knows that humans normally don't produce heat or better flames like that and somehow the angle understand why this human choses to live far away from everyone else then the power Cas was feeling right know wasn't controlled in any form. This was a wild beast living inside this human waiting for a chance to break out.

The angel returns into the house and gets a towel for Dean, to dry himself when he had control over the fire again. He was waiting in the snow, barefooted and only wearing his pyjama, given to him by Dean. The angel doesn't feel the cold or the snow biting his toes. He would wait here until Dean was ready.

* * *

It had taken him hours to calm down enough to leave the lake. The morning will rise soon but Dean doesn't care about it. He had this dreams once or twice a week, often enough to no longer care about his disturbed nights. He didn't have to get up and do a normal nine to five. He had jobs to be done, necessary for survival jobs, but they could wait a few hours.

The water around him had calmed down too, no more ice was on the surface, the lake had a nice temperature for a swim, he hopes it will cool down enough again to not kill all the fish inside. In the winter time it was a bit critical, thinking about it, every season was bad for the lake to get heated up like this.

As Dean steps out of the lake he finds his visitor waiting for him. The melted snow, boiling water and the burned footprints on the ground were a dead giveaway for anyone around, but he suspected, Cas had seen far more. No use to denial it. What worries him was that the man was standing right there, waiting for him with a towel, never mind his state of clothing.

Dean was tired enough to just ignore it and takes the offered towel, he was thankful that Cas seem to sense that he doesn't want to talk about it. With the towel around his shoulder he takes the man inside and pushes him to the table. In the kitchen Dean starts a quick breakfast, he wasn't cold, a side effect of the whole thing that would take another hour to disappear. Enough time for food and a cold shower.

As the breakfast was ready he places it on the table and could see how his guest wants to argue about it, again. "Shut up and eat Cas." It might sound a bit harsh but the "Angel" did shut up and take the first bit with a small smile on his face. It was like this had become their thing just after one time, he also suspect that Cas only wanted to make him talk again, to break the silence. Dean still wasn't sure what he had to think about the whole angel or cult thing. But who cares. He just made a lake boil and ice melt. The guy was still here that means he is a hunter or someone who knows about things or he was a thing. A path Dean wouldn't follow jet. Cas didn't judge him and wasn't afraid of him, he also was very glad to have someone here, even when he couldn't talk about the dream or his curse. He wasn't alone.

Somewhere inside Dean was a voice telling him that he is a danger for the man in front of him and he should send him away as soon as possible. But Dean couldn't he hadn't known what he missed until the man had fallen from the sky. He hadn't notice his loneliness, sending the "angel" away would hurt. "Why aren't you asking questions or run away like any sane person." He had to ask at least.

Cas looked up and studies his eyes for a long time, just starring. "Why would I? You don't want to hurt me and I doubt you can with it." Cas was still watching him.

"Because of the angel thing?" Cas nods. "Can you prove to me that you are an angel, like wings or a harp or something like that? It would make me feel … I don't know, it would help, I think. I don't want to hurt you when I lose control." He didn't tell the angel how often that is. The part of sending him away stays unsaid.

"I don't have a harp and I can´t show you because using my powers would lead my brothers and sister the way to find me. I don't want them to find me, I´m sorry Dean. You have to believe." That was all Cas said before he returned to his half eaten breakfast.


	4. Angel are warrior of God

**Chapter 4: Angels are warrior of god**

Dean and his visitor had started to get used to live with each other. After the morning with the streaming lake, Dean had finally started to return to his daily work. First of all was fixing the roof of his storage probably but after that he continues to build useful tools for the hunter community. Dean had already build many different devices, like his EMP but he hadn't get the Chance to give them to Bobby who would have to get them to the hunters. He just couldn't leave the cabin and when he was honest with himself, the reason was fear.

At the beginning Dean was very irritated by his visitors behaviour. Cas was just watching him. With this blue eyes fixed at him and his work with a body unmoving. It doesn't look like he would breathe. But like with most things in his life, he got used to it and Dean starts talking to Cas whenever he feels like it. The 'angel' doesn't seem to have a problem with silence and after living alone Dean neither but it is nice to share his thoughts with the man. Someone who listens and answers, brings his own opinion in a conversation. Living alone and ignoring the world around him had taken something from Dean he hadn't notice to miss. And Cas, he was giving this feeling again.

* * *

Castiel is watching Dean working again. He had always been fascinated about the craftsmanship of humans, what they could create from a few materials that were given to them by his father. His eyes are often just fixed on the human´s hands but he never missed a second when Dean starts to talk to him. Sometimes he tells him a story or about a book he read another time he would ask him what Cas thinks about a specific topic. It was really nice talking to Dean. Without realizing Cas had got the one thing he had always missed in heaven from Dean.

Heaven was crowded with his siblings but he had never felt so lonely like up there, after his brother had disappeared it had never been the same again. Castiel doesn't fit in anymore. Dean is treating him different, if the angel had known what it is he could name it. The feeling of acceptation, belonging and warmth grow with every second he spends in this little cabin with Dean.

While he is watching Dean work Castiel´s thoughts return to the night or better early morning as he had seen Dean´s reason for solitude the first time. He had seen the fear in Dean´s eyes as he had returned to the cabin and had seen him waiting. As if he would run away. The power Dean has felt familiar but still Cas wasn't able to say why. It was an uncontrolled force of fire, there was no way Dean had any control about what had happened that night.

Thinking about it where ever this power came from it is part of Dean, he should be able to control it or at least bend it to his will to some extent. It´s the reason why Dean had locked himself away from the world and when his behaviour was any indication than he was missing other people, a lot.

Suddenly an idea was born in his mind and for the first time Castiel was the one starting a conversation while Dean was working.

* * *

"Dean, did you try to control you powers?" Dean´s head shoot up from the garget he was working on to stare at Cas. "I mean you seem to feel it and I was wondering if you ever tried, because-"

"Stop." Dean interrupted the angel aggressively. "No I never tried because it's impossible." He looked away again but the angel could see that his host wasn't really seeing the device.

"You should be able to it's a part of you." Cas could see them now. The thin strings that build a web through Dean´s soul. It had to be there since his birth and now that he had seen the energy of this power it was easy for him to find the difference.

Dean sight, like most time Cas doesn't get the fine signals every other person would have picked up that would tell them to back off. "It´s called a curse not because I like it. I´m cursed with something I can´t control."

"You were born with it and if your parents didn't anger some very powerful witches I don't think this is a curse." Dean looks up and meets Castiel´s eyes.

"What do you mean? It´s a curse it hurts people, I don't want it." The last words were spoken louder and suddenly Dean feels the familiar flame igniting. He is up and out of the house before Cas can stop him.

* * *

Dean sits down close to the water, the flame isn't coming out yet, he focus on his breathing and banns all thoughts about controlling this force that Cas had plant in his mind. Dean takes one breath after the other, focusing on the rising of his chest that contains the flame. It takes hours before his body tells him that the cold is finally able to reach him, all fire and flame had gone back deep inside of him where it hides.

He picks up some of the peddles that lie at the shore and throws them into the water. Cas´s words came back to him. He said it isn't a curse when his parents hadn´t met some witches and Dean highly doubt it. His father had learned about the supernatural after the fire when he tried to find out what had happened that night. They had always called it a curse because it only brought despite. But where does this … power come from.

* * *

Cas had waited patiently inside the house watching Dean through the window. He had felt the flame the second Dean had jumped up. It was somehow connected with his emotions. It takes a while before the human gets up to come back in. Cas had started to worry a bit because of the cold outside but Dean seems fine and no longer angry at him for asking. Neither of them offer words of apologize and as their eyes met its all forgotten. There is no bad feeling about the conversation they had before.

"I could help you control it, we could train you so you would feel safer to go out. I saw all this devices you made for the hunter, as you call them but what use do they have when they are lying in you shed getting dust on them." Cas hit another sour point but how would they even start with controlling something that he can barely keep down before it starts to eat everything around him.

"What makes you think you won´t be the first thing the fire is burning down?" He would never be able to forgive himself if he hurt one more person in his life with this.

"Dean, you can´t hurt me with it because you don't want to and I´m an angel, angel are warrior of God if necessary I know how to escape it." Cas makes a short break. "But if you try you could find new freedom and security to walk amongst other people. Like visiting your family, help hunting be with friends or see the world. You wouldn't need to hide and lock yourself away."

How does this man do it, finding every point of this life he can´t find to enjoy. How does this angel know he want it but is too afraid to take it. A look into the deep blue eyes stops every word of argument Dean would have countered with. The man in front of him would do this; take a risk to help him. "Fine, but I warned you. Don't come later to blame me when you get burned."

Cas smiled and keeps the rest of the afternoon quiet while Dean finished his work and cooks dinner.


	5. Control

**Chapter 5: Control**

The next morning Dean and Cas make their way through the woods and climb up the mountain that begin to raise behind Dean´s cabin. Dean's thoughts ran wild the whole way. What when he hurts Cas or he could lose control. He could burn down the mountain, the forest and everything around them. Yes, this was a very bad idea. There is a reason why he tries to suppress the flame that lives inside of him with every fibre of his being.

Cas seems unafraid and somewhere in Dean´s mind was ringing an alarm sound that there was terrible wrong with the man. There was no prove that the fire wouldn't hurt him but still there was no fear or worry in the man´s figure in front of him.

Between the trees appears more and more light until they walk over the edge, the tree line, only frozen, snow covered ground and rocks surround them. "Cas, I still think this is a bad idea. You shouldn't be close to me. Not when I will lose control and hurt you."

Cas stops and turns around to him. "You want your freedom back, right and I am here to help you. I will keep my distance when it makes you feel better." The angel takes a few steps back, still too close for Dean´s liking but at least the man had time to react.

There he stands surrounded by nothing except snow and an angel and wonders for the first time how this should work in the first place. He had never before summand his powers on purpose, they just came out. "Cas how do I do it?" Confused on this turn of events he completely forgot it.

The angel walks over to him, places his arms on Dean´s shoulders and makes him sit on the ground. They both sit opposite to each other. Their eyes met. "What I have seen until now shows me that your power is tied to your emotions. At least to a certain point. Emotional unbalance let the fire inside of your soul react. I even believe it´s protecting you. I imagine the fire is like a companion, it only sees that you are not good, like after your nightmare and it fights against the world because it wants to protect you." Dean was staring at the angel, was this his idea of a joke. This curse isn't protecting him it´s the source of his nightmares. "I think you can control it when you get the feeling of what triggers it, like finding the same level of conversation. You can summon the flame, control it and bend it to your will when everything works out. You need to accept this power as yours for it to work." Cas smiles encouraging at him and walks over to a rock, a few meters from Dean. He would have preferred a greater distance but at least he wasn't in touching reach. "First try to find the fire inside of your mind."

It seems like Cas really thought about it and who was Dean to stop this man from helping him to return to his family. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes like a million times before to find this quiet warm place inside of his soul. The place he uses to find the peace and quiet to get the flame to stop it should be the place to start to find it.

Dean couldn't say how long he set there on the ground, breathing, time got irrelevant and slowed down but the second his mind touched the innocent looking flame inside of him it starts to race. His breathing caught and begins to fasten up. His hand form first and he begins instinctly to push the fire back.

What Dean couldn't see with his eyes closed was the fire around him that melts the snow and brings out the rocks and stones underneath him. Cas could see the human panic but there was nothing he could to. This whole experience had worked very well until Dean had feared the power inside of him. Maybe it was too early, the angel thoughts.

Dean could stop the flame and push it back down, he was kneeing on the ground on his hands and knees breathing hard as if he had run a marathon. It took him a while to feel the warmth under his finger, understanding hit him and Dean looks up fast and is met with blue eyes that watch him patiently.

The whole area had been covered in snow and ice, now the only thing left of it was a thin trail of melted water in the distance. The angel looked unharmed but thinking about what could have happened let Dean nearly loose his breakfast.

Cas walks closer and offers Dean his hand to help him up, hesitantly Dean took it after he made sure his skin had a normal temperature again. "We should head home." Dean nods and follows Cas back to the forest and down the mountain. That they were still holding hands was only notice half way back but Dean didn't mind. It felt nice to be touched by another human being.

He was shaken and exhausted, not the best start or the start he had hoped and wished fore. Suddenly Dean feels eyes on him and looks up. Cas was staring at him again with these blue eyes, it looks like the angel want to ask something and somewhere in Dean´s mind blooms the words "please stay, forever" but he didn't say them because in front of his cabin was a truck parking.

Who could this be? Dean let go of Cas hand and lays his finger on his lips, signalling Cas to be quiet. As they round the cabin to see the rest of the car he sighs in relieve, this old thing could only belong to one person.

Bobby.


	6. Sam is missing

**Chapter 6: Sam is missing**

The door of the cabin was unlocked like always. It´s easier to replace stolen goods than to fix the door. A working door is something very important in the winter to keep the heat inside and the cold, wild animals and the humidity outside. Dean and Cas walk through the door to be greet by Bobby who is in hunter-fashion holding a shotgun and waiting for them. Dean just a bit surprised feels Cas tense up behind him. With a small movement of his hand he let his ´angel´ know that there is no danger from their visitor.

"Hey Bobby, what a surprise. You could have called-" Dean couldn't finish the sentence because he notices his mistake the second he thought about his phone in the drawer, ignored since the call to Bobby but it was too late. Bobby was ready to let his anger go free and he was at the receiving end of it.

"Call, are you kidding me or what do you think I tried for days." First calling me, asking me stupid question and request answers and then ignoring me. What if there is something dangerous in your house and you forget to charge your phone, idiot!" The end of it was always said a bit more with love, so that Dean knows that the old man was more worried than angry about the whole thing. Dean could feel his guest getting more confused with the minute.

"Sorry, we ... I was busy and completely forgot about the phone and the info's I wanted from you." Bobby lowered the shotgun and steps closer, the hug Dean receive is very welcome and something he didn't get in ages, he had missed the man. "Let me introduce you to Cas, you know the angel that fell from the sky." Bobby looks the angel up and down before offering a hand to shake. "Cas, this is Bobby make sure he likes you, you wouldn't like to live near me or him if not.

"Nice to meet you, sir." Cas offers, aware that this could be a test and even he knows the basic forms of politeness between humans in a conversation.

"Bobby is fine. I see you get Dean out of the house. So I would say you can´t be completely insane." They shake hands and separate again. Bobby said nothing about the angel-thing, probably better this way.

"Good, so that's settled, how about a bear, you took the long way out here to check on me, so at least let me offer you a drink. Cas sit down, you will drink one too." Bobby lifts an eye-brown as he watches the man following the order before he follows suit and sits down too. The man looked normal, even a bit naive but with the eye of a man that had seen many things.

Dean returns with the bears and offers each of them a bottle. They drunk each a sip (first Dean and Bobby, than Cas after watching and copying them).

"What were you two doing out there in the snow?" Bobby questioned, he had more than one worry right now, but one step after the other, first he had to make sure Dean is alright and the visitor isn't some monster/crazy guy.

"...Ahm we ..." Bobby gives Dean a look that tells the man to spill it before someone loses their patient. "Cas motivated me to try to learn to control the fire. He calls it a power or gift or something like it."

"It is a gift. A power that you should be able to control, it's a part of you. I can feel that it is nothing evil." Cas says before someone could question Dean´s power. The angel could still not tell what it is he is feeling inside the human, but it´s nothing evil. This power will protect Dean without question.

Bobby didn't ask how or why Cas knows about the curse but he is surprised. Surprised because Dean was talking about it and tries to control it, as to the fact that this man, angel whatever didn't run. Then there is only one way how someone could learn about this. Dean had lost control and Cas saw it. This man is something special. Maybe the other topic was more pressing. Bobby sights. "Have you heard from your brother lately?" A stupid question without a working phone. Dean felt the temperature around him sink. Something happened to Sam. "I haven't heard from him since he went for a hunt a few days before. It has something to do with a so called angel pendant. It is apparently something that can heal curses. At least that´s what your brother believes."

Guilt was growing in Dean, the second he heard it. Sam is still looking for a cure for him and his curse. So they can hunt together again. "Why is Sam hunting alone and then looking for some stupid, most likely cursed object?"

"He told me about it after he went out. I couldn't stop him." The older man answers.

"There is no such thing as an angel pendent." Cas says and suddenly all the attention is focused on the man. "There are objects that can contain a curse, weak it or lock is away but nothing, especially something that doesn't exist is able to get rid of a curse. Even if this would be real, it wouldn't work on Dean. The fire inside of him is not a curse. It´s protection."

The two people in the room that were listening share a look. "We need to find him, fast." Whoever let out the rumour about this object must have a goal and one could be getting a nice and willing hunter who would run into danger without thinking as a hostage.

They get up to head for the door as Dean stops frozen on the floor. He couldn't get out into the world, where people walk he could hurt and where thinks are that can burn down to ash. A sudden panic makes Dean unable to move, all the things that could happen float his mind, drowning him until he feels two hands on his face. Blue meets green and Dean can take a much needed breathe, he hadn't notice that he had stopped breathing. "Dean." This voice and the eyes told him everything he needs to know and so much more. But he is very grateful that Cas speaks the words that follow out loud to make sure Dean would understand them correctly.

"I promise you when something should happen and you lose control I will take you away from everything you could hurt or burn down. You don't have to be afraid I´m strong enough to get us back here if you want to the lake or any other place." There was no lie in Cas´ eyes, no doubt either. His angel had never been afraid of him, not after the nightmare with the melting lake or the failed training practice to learn control. There had never been any fear. Maybe Cas is an angel, Dean suddenly thinks. "_Angels are watching over you."_ His mum´s last words could be true.

"But when you use your powers, the other angels will find you and take you away." A new and unknown fear awakes in Dean. Had this dorky man become really that important to him in only a few days?

"Yes, for you Dean I would do it." Cas didn't know why he said that but knows that these are the truest words he had ever spoken in his long life.

Bobby thankfully didn't comment on this very hard core chick-flick-moment. He was only surprised that these two had become so close to each other in only a few days. At least one of the brothers is safe. Time to find the other one.

They take Bobby´s car, he and Dean in the front Cas in the back. With every mile, the distance to his safe haven gets bigger and Dean feel the fire getting unsteady until a strong hand rest on his shoulder. Without words Cas had calmed him down, he must have felt or seen Dean getting nervous. Whatever it is he feels safe with the angel at his side.


	7. Sam and the Trickster

**Chapter 7: Sam and the Trickster**

_A few days before_

Sam closes his laptop; the poorly illuminated motel room is filled with sudden darkness. The only light comes from the street light and Sam throws himself on the bed. His research has shown him that this could be the solution to get his brother back. To get rid of this curse that prevents his family's happiness.

The online articles about the artefact told him the same as the old book he had found in the archive of an old hunter. At least it confirms the lore about the so called amulet of Raphael. Who would have guessed that he could find the answer in a book about angel weapons. The amulet is according to the book able to heal every illness and take away every bad influence (including curses).

He would drive to the museum first thing in the morning. His contacts have located the artefact; an old guy that collects thinks that have supernatural powers had offered his private collection to the museum to be shown.

* * *

After only four hours of sleep Sam gets up and takes a shower, he needs the feeling of the cold water running down his body to wake up completely. As he exits the shower he turns his back to the mirror to see the handprint shaped scar his brother left behind. Dean hates this scar; he had told him on one of the bad days that he sees it as a mark that he had hurt his little brother. Sam loves this scar. It shows that his brother had saved him and it motivates him to continue his search for a cure. Dean had done nothing in his life to earn such a cruel punishment and what kind of brother would he be if he doesn't try to change that.

As they had grown up, he was the only one not afraid of Dean and the curse and Bobby of course but everyone else who knew about it kept a healthy distance to them. Sam remembers last time his brother lost control at the junk yard.

* * *

They lived with Bobby most of the time. John was too busy with hunting to care about his children. Of course he told them that he was looking for a cure but the visits were far between and no cure offered.

Dean was working on the cars in the junk yard, it makes him happy and without pressure from outside he could work without stress and in his own speed. Being around other people is something Dean avoids whenever possible, Sam and especially Bobby respects it. John had never tried to make life easier for Dean. School was horror and the lonely spend night on the road weren't better. At Bobby's they could finally relax, school for Sam and work for Dean.

It was a normal day. Sam was in the library, researching. He suspects that in the house next to his school lived a ghost. Dean had been on hunts before more as a lookout than anything else. John hadn't trusted him enough for more and Bobby wants to keep them as far away from hunting as possible. What was the reason for the fight between Sam and Bobby the minute Dean enters to get washed and ready for dinner.

Dean hears only the last part of the fight before he enters the room and the argument stops. Of course this was the part were Sam told Bobby that he would do it alone. As Dean enters they could already see that they have triggered his fire. All resuming words from Sam fall to deaf ears as the fire begins to consume Dean.

The flame, always acting as if alive, was holding tight at Dean and starts lashing out as Sam and Bobby who tried to get closer. They could see that he was trying to get it back under control but no breathing and heart rate controlling could get it back.

Parts of the room were already on fire. Dean is screaming at the fire to stop but it never listens so he turns around and runs out of the house to prevent further damage on their home but outside are waiting cars, lots of cars. Some filled with benzene that is ready to get blown up.

Part of the room was on fire so he and Bobby had to climb out of the window, while Sam following Dean into the deeper parts of the junk yard Bobby starts fighting the fire.

In the end it took an hour to get Dean back and the fire stopped. Half of the yard had prints of the fire and Dean was devastated and decided that he would leave to go hunting on his own after lots of fights, Sam came too.

His brother didn't want to destroy the only home he ever had and Sam understands. Hopefully he will get his brother back with his amulet.

* * *

The drive took him only a few hours, Sam had already crossed half of the country to get to the museum, without even knowing if the amulet was real. He knows that he should think about that it could be fake but his mind is filled with hope and wouldn't let this happen.

As he arrives at the museum it is already closed. Perfect. He had never thought about visiting, he wants to steel it, he means borrowing. Dean would be disappointed in him but Sam had searched long enough. It is time to get his brother back.

Through hunting and the necessary skillset for it, Sam is probably a very good thief. Something he never wanted to be but it helps him right now as he disabled the alarm system and opens the glad box where the amulet is shown. The moment the amulet is in his hand the world went dark.

* * *

With a heavy and painfully hurting head Sam wakes up in a prison cell and has no idea how he ended up here. The three walls around him are grey and the fourth is only bars, no window, no toilet only the bed he is laying on. In front of them stands a man, smaller then Sam. A prison guard, at least the uniform looks like it but something is wrong at the guy, something smells fishy, would his brother say. He is eating some kind of candy and watching him with a curious look in his eyes.

"Our sleeping beauty decided to wake up." The guard starts. "But our little princess was a very bad one, a thief." He holds up one finger and waves it in front of Sam's face. "Little thieves get punished. No one is allowed to touch my stuff."

Sam has enough from the man's attitude. "I am not a thief. I just need it to help my brother. That's all." He stands up to be in a better position and to get a better overview of the situation. The man hasn't moved and Sam is sure a real guard had said or done something. The situation was still wrong. He said his stuff. The amulet was burrowed from some collector.

"Has your brother some untreatable illness or is he just sick and doesn't want to wait for the healing process to finish?" Somehow is the voice of the guy what makes him angry. He would sound nice otherwise but by making Dean's situation look like nothing, Sam would like to let heads roll. His brother is suffering and this jerk makes fun of it.

"It's a curse, he was cursed before he was even born so it is nothing he coursed or earned by his doing." With his last word Sam jumps forward and grips tight at the guard's uniform, pulling him to the bars. "I need that amulet and you will give it to me. I need it to get my brother out of his self-made prison and you, you fake guard will not stop me to save my family."

The attitude of the guard suddenly changes. "I have to disappoint you, this amulet is a fake, I created it to see what kind of human garbage would try to get it. I had many offers from rich people believing that money can give them more time. But it is fake and no use for your brother." After a short break the metallic sound of an open lock filled the air. "I'm sorry but I never wanted a hunter to be misled by the information I placed into the world."

Sam is just starring. He had been prisoner to some supernatural creature that seems to like to create things out of nothing as a jokes on people. The feeling of hopelessness is consuming him. He had thought to finally found something and it was fake. Not only that this guy used his hope for his own amusement. "You are a Trickster, right?"

After a short nod from the guard Sam let go of him and leaves the prison cell. "Where will you go now?"

Sam looks back at the Trickster and shrugs his shoulder. "The information from the book about the angel weapons was my last straw. I have nowhere to go. I need to start again to get Dean back." Sam suddenly stops and looks at the Trickster. "You are a powerful creature right. You can create things out of nothing. Do you know how to cure my brother?" There was this spark of hope again.

"I don't think I can help you but I don't mind some company. If you follow me around and we meet your brother by accident I would have a look." The Trickster smiles and walks out. "You can call me Gabe." He calls behind his back. The interesting hunter is following like the Trickster had thought.


	8. Angel Witness protection program

**Chapter 8: Angel Witness protection program**

Dean, Cas and Bobby arrive at the museum hours after they left the mountains and Dean's safe haven. The museum is still open and many people walk in and out of the place. Too many for Dean's liking, the only thing giving him some security is Cas who is standing and walking right next to him. As if he would know that this closeness, which Dean will denial it was helping him and was the only thing that keeps everyone around them safe.

To Dean's endless relieve is Bobby leading the whole rescue and searching mission, he is too focus on keeping the flame inside. It's funny how something he can ignore most time of the day when he is alone can lead to so much stress and work in a town full of people. He had forgotten how much work it was to keep himself in check and what kind of relieve his refugium in the forest really is.

It also shows Dean that he is completely useless as a hunter or help for his brother. How can he concentrate on something else when he tries to keep everyone around him safe from him? He is the monster and the dangerous thing right now.

Cas is taking his hand, Dean's thought had spiralled away from reality, again and the strong hand from the angel keeps him here. Dean wasn't sure how the angel did it or when his mind has accepted that Cas is an angel, his angel, but it helps and together they are able to walk into the museum.

* * *

Bobby watches his boy, he hadn't been sure about taking Dean away from his place and on the journey he had been more focused on Dean than the road but his worries are silenced for the most part by the stranger that has the strange power to get Dean away from the worries and fears that boil up inside of him.

He still feels sorry that Dean had to choose the life he is living right now, no one had found a cure, Sam uses all his time to find one and whatever he found in that museum could be the answer. But where is Sam?

* * *

Sam is sitting still and watches his new target enjoy a very private dance on the dancefloor like he would call it. It is a strip club and has nothing fancy as a dancefloor, just the normal ambient and decorating. How he had ended here is a huge mystery for him. Gabe as he calls himself is something between a playboy party guy and Mr. Sexy. Sam isn't sure how he does it but every time he wants someone they imminently fall for him.

Right now the dancer is leaving and Sam uses his chance. "Tell me how you do it. It can't be only the Trickster thing and you can't be that good. No one is."

Gabe turns to Sam, still with the happy smile the dancer left behind on his lips. "Sammy, I had a lot of time practicing. No one knows where I am. I can do what I like best without being interrupted by anything or anyone. I created my own little witness protection program."

"It sounds lonely." Sam said. "What about your family or friends?" He seems to have hit a nerve.

"My family is the reason I live like that." Without a further explanation Gabe gets up and Sam follows him to the bar for another drink or ten.

* * *

The truth is that the Trickster hadn't felt as alive as in these few days since a long time. Being followed by the human made him less lonely and less destructive. He isn't sure how he will cope as soon as the human had realised that he doesn't want or can help him with his brother's curse.

Sam had told him about it. The fire that lives in a human and it doesn't even sound like a curse to him but without seeing it Gabe couldn't tell.

For now he will enjoy the company. The worries are for other days.

* * *

Cas holds his hand as they wait for Bobby to get the surveillance videos from the cameras. It was pretty easy to find out what Sam was looking for and what he did but what happened afterwards isn't clear. With his fake FBI batch Bobby got them everything they need. Dean let himself be led to the monitor room. Around him were people and only the angel prevents a horrible death for them.

The room he and Cas enter was small and smelled like old burgers and spilled drinks. Not the greatest place to be on earth but it would give him the opportunity to see what happened.

Bobby is sure in which night Sam would have broken in. So they start with the videos of this day. The three people in the room watch in fast forward a day in the museum, they first slow the speed to normal as the museum's doors were closed and the last person left (except the night guards).

The video showed Sam, with a mask and everything but the giant figure was easily spotted. His brother was working on the lock of the glass box that contains an amulet. "In the lore it says it can heal every wound." Bobby tells them. "Sam found it in an old book about angel weapons at a friend of mine."

"There is no such thing as a healing ability having amulet of Raphael in the collection of the weapons of heaven. They are all secured and guarded. Even if such thing would exist, it could never find its way onto earth." Cas speaks for the first time in ages and somehow this makes his words more value, give them more weight. "This amulet is fake."

The video continues and shows a shadow getting closer from behind. The shadow becomes a man and knocked Sam out. Without difficulty the man lifts his brother up and carries him out. For a short moment the man, who was dressed in a guard's uniform was looking into the camera and his eyes shine in a white light.

"Sam was taken by this man, thing whatever he is. We need to find him." Dean's eyes had followed his brother's motionless figure get carried away. Bobby had already frozen the video on a different monitor and prints the best picture of their suspects.

"Let's hit town, someone must have seen him before." Cas and Dean follow Bobby's comment and they leave the museum with the fake amulet behind.

* * *

They split, Bobby went down the one side of the road and Dean and Cas the other to ask in every shop and every person they meet on the street about the man and showed the printed picture.

After the first few tries Dean asks Cas to do the questioning it ends like this: "Have you seen this man? We believe he is a supernatural being that kidnapped his brother (pointing at Dean) who was trying to steal a fake angel weapons out of the museum and is looking for something to lift a curse." Yes, that worked well after this Dean pulled Cas to the side for a short briefing, a confused angel was looking at him.

"Why do I have to lie? I only told them the truth." Dean smiles for the first time since this trip bad started.

"Because we are human and we lie, that's how you become president." Cas, still confused follows Dean out of the alley and they start all over again with the questioning.

As they reach the end of the road they meet up with Bobby. The guy from the bakery, the liquor store, the porn shop and the chocolatey have seen the guy in the picture before. They all point towards the strip club at the other side of town. He would start hunting for women and men in this location. This creature wasn't very careful or secretive, he seems to be in the city since a few month and does nothing else then enjoy his life. As the guy from the bakery had said.

Dean was first at the car and sits behind the wheel. No one comments on it and they drove off to the club. Dean is worried about Sam. What could some shady supernatural creature want from his brother, Sam hadn't returned so the creature must have kept him or worse.

They arrive and enter the club with a little bit of help from Bobby's FBI batch. Dean's eyes search the room and fall first on Sam who is talking to the creature they are looking for. Forgotten is the fire and the fear as Dean closes the distance between him and Sam.

* * *

Sam turn around and sees his brother, first he thinks he is drunk but he hadn't touched a single drop of alcohol even when Gabe was close to stuffing it down his throat. "Dean?" Confused he finds Bobby directly behind his brother. "Bobby? What are you two doing here?"

To his surprise it's Bobby who answers. "You idiot. How about checking in or answering your phone. We were worried some monster had taken you and we are right as it seems." Behind Sam sits Gabe. Sam takes out his phone, a bit scratch splits the display in half.

"You mean Gabe, he is a Trickster and he faked the amulet I was looking for as he catch me. And my phone must have broken during the break in. Sorry." Suddenly Sam looks at Dean. His brother must have been under a lot of stress and the relieve that he was fine would trigger the flame by a 50% possibility. "We should leave." Without waiting for anyone Sam starts pushing Dean out of the crowded room. Everyone else is following him.

* * *

Cas is the last one that leaves this den of sin. He watches the so called Trickster very close as he takes out something of his pants, a pop. While he watches him unwrap the sweet he is pretty sure who is standing there.

In the meantime Sam and Bobby made sure Dean is alright as Cas starts talking to the Trickster.

"Gabriel?" Just one word but the smaller man turns around, losing every last bit of colour in his face. Cas eyes light up white for a second.

"Cassi?" Both man stare at each other and Dean makes the connection. His brain supplies him with the word angel and inside of him explodes a fire of fear.

The angel will take Cas away.


	9. The one that keeps me right

**Chapter 9: The one that keeps me right**

Cas feels betrayed his brother is alive and standing right in front of him, apparently enjoying his life since he disappeared. "I thought you were dead."

Gabriel wakes from his frozen state. "Are you here to turn me in, being a good soldier of heaven?" No comment on Cas words. "I won't go back, I can't."

"I'm not here because of you, I am here with-" Cas never finished the sentence because behind him broke out a firestorm. A blaze of enormous heat and power and inside of it is Dean.

The angel knew immediately what triggered Dean into it. His and Gabriel's conversation and the revival of the Trickster's identity. Cas had told him that other angels would take him away and in the unsteady condition Dean is in, it was the last spark to ignite the fire.

Dean and everything close to him is burning. Gabriel reacts fast and takes Sam and Bobby away from the burning torch that had been a human seconds ago. Cas doesn't move he hears protest from the brother and the elder human that they can help but he knows what Dean needs right now. Gabriel stays with them and keeps them safe. Dean would never forgive himself when he hurts them. There is only one thing to do.

Cas gets ready and walks right into the fire, his wings open to contain the flames inside he uses his grace to protect himself and also to identify to Dean and his fire.

* * *

Dean panics the fire is everywhere, there is an angel and he will take Cas away. His fire is out and his family is close by. He could hurt them. What when Cas is happy to be taken away by the other angel. Who would want to be with a dangerous monster that combusts every day. The answer is no one. If they not kill him he has to go back to the cabin, to be alone. No one should be in danger because he is close by. The whole town could burn down when he doesn't get control back.

Dean's thoughts get darker and darker with every second, his eyes close and he wills the flame back. To stop, to do anything but hurting someone as he suddenly feels a soft blanket covering his whole body, arms close around him and Dean finds himself in a soft and warm hug. He feels the light touch of something; his fingers reach out and touch feathers. Cas wings, because there was no doubt who was there.

Dean closes his eyes and breaths.

* * *

Sam can't help, he knows that. No one ever could help Dean but he wants to, he needs to. But Gabe doesn't let him and who was this other guy, why is he allowed to stay with Dean. Bobby's hand on his shoulder finally stops him until then it was Gabe's motionless figure that could have been a mountain.

"You can't help him, you know that. But he can." Bobby says ashamed that he can't do anything at all.

"Who is he?" To Sam's surprise is it Gabe who answers.

"My brother Castiel, he is an angel." Disbelief and doubt fill Sam's mind and want to spill out but it seems to be the truth. Bobby isn't questioning it.

When did they end up with angels and Gabe or better Gabriel is an angel too? "Can he help Dean? Stop the curse and the flame and everything?"

Gabriel looks very close at the fire ball that contains their brothers. "Sam I'm not sure it is a curse. This is far too powerful to come from some human magic. Can't tell you what it is but I think Cassi can deal with your brother. It looks to me like they have a special bond."

Dean's special someone ...

* * *

Cas and Dean are still in a tight hug. As Dean notice that Cas is talking to him, repeating the same words over and over again. "... not leaving you. I will not leaving you."

Dean's voice sounds weak even in his ears. "Why?" He doesn't look up to meet the angels eyes.

"As I left heaven I didn't know what I was looking for or why I felt the need to stay with you but now I know. It was you, always you I came to find and to stay. No one will ever take me away from you.

Dean can feel the flame make a happy dance inside of him to the rhythm of his heart beat. His finger travel over the soft feathers again. "Why isn't it hurting you, the fire I mean?" Dean takes his hand back and tights the hug. He doesn't want Cas to ever leave.

"Your fire is here to protect your, I told you so but it also protects the people that are important to you when you let it. I'm containing the flame so it won't touch anything else, don't worry." And Dean didn't worry any longer. For the first time in his life he wouldn't want to be someone else.

"Did you mean what you said before? That you will stay." Cas pulls back but only for Dean to look at him.

Dean was holding on to Cas, who looked him right into his eyes. "I will stay with you as long as you want me to." He wasn't sure if it was that Cas was an angel or that he could read him so well but Dean knows the angel had read his eyes that screamed ´_Forever_´ at him before he could get his mouth to work and say it out load.

One tiny thought occurs Dean, how did Cas manage to break through his careful built walls around his heart but it doesn't matter. Because his mouth is working in a different kind of way very good. Dean lends forward and his lips meet Cas. Realising what he is doing Dean pulls back.

"Sorry, I-" A finger touches his lips and silence him.

"No apologies, I think I know how it works." This time it is Cas who initiates the kiss and Dean is ready to answer it.

* * *

Gabriel rolls his eyes, he pulls out of his pocket another sweet, this time a bar of chocolate and offers it to Sam and Bobby.

"How can you think of food when my brother needs help?" Sam nearly screams at him and Bobby doesn't look very amused either. The angel realizes that they can't see what is happening inside the fire/feathers mix.

"Don't worry Sammy, you brother is fine. Cassie got that covered. They just need another minute or so to get settled." He winked at the humans but they don't seem to get it. Not really but it is not his story to tell.

* * *

As they finish the kiss, only because Dean needs to breath, he sees his fire in a different kind of way. The flames look different, he isn't fighting them and suddenly they are like a harmless baby bird. He understands what Cas said about them so he asks them to get back inside. First Dean felt a bit stupid talking to himself in his head but the fire listens. He also feels wings moving and he can finally see the rest of the alley again. Cas steps back a bit but doesn't let go of his hand.

The damage seems to be minimal, only a few garbage cans, nothing else. The others closing the distance and Sam is the first one that hugs Dean. Second is Bobby and he clearly heard the word idiot, he is sure of it. Sam introduces Gabriel, but admits that he didn't worry about the Trickster thing or the angel thing as much as he should. Dean tells Sam who Cas is.

This could have been a pleasant happy end of the day but peace is nothing a Winchester or fallen angels are entitled to have. Three people appear suddenly out of nowhere, Gabriel hides behind Sam and Cas is frozen on shock. It tells the three humans what they need to know.

Angels.

"Castiel, you committed the highest crime known to us. You will come with us and receive your punishment."


	10. You will not take him away from me!

**Chapter 10: "You will not take him away from me!"**

Everyone is still for a few seconds. The man that had spoken takes a step closer to Cas. "First we couldn't find you but now you decide to show yourself to mere humans. Angels are not allowed to walk on earth's surface, since millennia. Castiel, you know the rules, accept your punishment."

Cas didn't move he holds on tight to Dean's hand but Dean feels how his angel shakes. "Raphael, brother please. I have no purpose in heaven I found my place here. Please don't take me away from him."

The angel, Raphael follows the joint hands and looks the first time at Dean and his eyes show nothing than disgust. "You chose that over us, over heaven and our father? Castiel you have fallen further from grace than I had feared." The angel beside Raphael step for and each one is taking one side of Castiel, pulling him away from Dean.

* * *

Cas doesn't really fight. He knows he has no chance and he can't win against three of his brother's. Gabriel won't reveal himself. He had been hiding for centuries he won't risk his own happiness for him.

A step away he turns back to Dean and sees what he has done. Broken the soul he had fixed a minute ago. He hurts Dean by leaving. It's not his choice but he still hurts him. Cas feels useless, a failure. He had promised this man to stay with him forever. Forever is a long time from today and certainly not now. He wants to say he is sorry but he can't, Cas just wants to return back to Dean, bath in the light of his soul and feel the warmth of him when touching.

But all he can do is to turn his back and follow his brother's. He can't risk the humans getting hurt by a fight between angels.

For the first time in his long life Castiel had failed.

* * *

It's his fault. Cas had to use his power to get closer, to say what he had to say, to not burn alive. They found him because of Dean and the fire that Cas claims it's only tasks is to protect him. He doesn't need protection, his angel needs it. He can see how Cas wants to stay, to fight but he can't. Someone else has to fight three angel. A short look at Gabriel who was still hiding told him that there was no help to expect. And then there is this anger inside of him. He finally found the one person that wants to stay that told him he would be at his side forever. No one is allowed to take his angel away. No one.

Burning hot heat awakes and Dean finally understands what this power is. It is his fire his to use to protect what is important, nothing to be afraid.

The second Cas reaches Raphael Dean let out his fire, a controlled unstoppable force of flames reaches the angels first. Everyone except Cas feels the heat, close to the feeling of burning holy oil. Cas stands untouched in the flames looking surprised and amazed at Dean.

* * *

Sam's mouth hang open and most likely everyone else's too. Dean was standing there and uses the fire that had been his greatest fear one minute ago as if he had done so since his birth. They could see that the flame was doing exactly what Dean wants. The angels jumped away from the fire except the one that Dean wants to protect.

It is as if the fire made an amour around his brother. An amour out of fire and flames. The fire that follows his hand and surrounds Cas pulls the angel closer. Cas follows willingly and stands next to his brother. Only by a short touch of their fingers acknowledge turns Dean his attention to the other three Angela that had stayed away.

Gabe next to him had stopped hiding and looks amazed at his brother. To his surprise he finds the same look in the eyes of the angel Raphael, two archangel that see something invisible for everyone else.

* * *

Cas is by his side again. First aim accomplished. Next step: Get the other angels away forever. "Cas wants to stay with me. You have no right to take him away from me."

The fire inside and outside of his body is happy to follow his every wish as if it had waited his whole life to work with him together. To protect and not being kept down and hidden away. But it isn't the time to figure that out. More important things are to do.

To make his words more pressing the fire forms a circle around the other angels, threatened but not quiet touching. "He stays with me." The fire armour creates a hand looking much like wing that keeps Cas safe beside him.

* * *

Rachael is looking at something he hadn't thought would exist. There it is, the Flame of God, beautiful and strong as on the day created by his father. Never had he believed to find it here and it seems that the seraph, without seeing the truth, had found his place beside the human carrying it.

They wouldn't be able to fight it. If the keeper of the flame would want to he could burn them down to ash. Nothing would be left of them, not even the ashen prints of their burned wings. Castiel's unharmed state showed that the keeper had chosen him.

Time for a tactical retried. "I understand keeper, I accept your choice and I will no further question it. My apologies keeper." Raphael waits for a reaction, any reaction. The keeper could burn them right here and now if he want to. "We will leave when you let us." He points with one of his hands to the fire ring that holds them prisoners.

Castiel seems to say something to the keeper before he let his hand sink and the flame returns to his body. With a short nod to his brother they leave this place and earth although. Back to heaven. There is a lot to discuss with his brothers and sisters up in heaven.

* * *

The angels leave and Dean let the flame return inside his body. The adrenaline and the pressure leave him and with it all of his strength. Dean sinks to the ground and looks up shaken to Cas. He slowly understands what he has done but also what he had accomplished. Cas is here, the angels left. His brother is safe and the other angel's secret is still secure. Not so bad for one day of work.

Sam comes running towards him, with Bobby and Gabriel close behind. "Are you alright? How did you control the curse suddenly?" Before he could answer Sam's questions steps Gabriel in.

"It's not a curse." Cas had thought so but all humans look at the archangel. "It's a gift, a gift from God and a very powerful one."

"But how could he control it like this?" Still on the ground tries to think back, how is a good question.

Tired as never before in his life Dean doesn't care right now. "Can we go back home?" His is looking at Cas. His angel smiles and helps Dean up, standing the exhaustion is nearly pulling him down again.

"Maybe we can continue this conversation tomorrow." Cas said and exchanges a look with his brother.

"Great plan Cassi, I will take these two for a bit of special treatment a la me and you take him home. Let's meet for lunch tomorrow." Before one of the humans could say something Dean and Cas disappear while Gabriel takes Bobby and Sam away for more drinking and crushing in a special designed room by him.

* * *

Cas takes Dean back to the cabin, now able to use his power flying is much faster than a car. He will have to talk to Dean about it. Speaking of Dean he was ready for a good night sleep so he takes him inside helps him out of his clothes and after an very telling look Cas does the same and joins Dean in the bed that was big enough for both of them.

"Dean angels don't sleep." This gets a tired smile out of the person next to him.

"Shut up Cas and cuddle with me until I wake up again." They share a kiss and Dean is asleep before his head is back on the cushions. So Cas does what was ask. Cuddle the beautiful human next to him. There is nothing he would like to do more.


End file.
